Pocket-knife and the like.



G. S. EVEN S.

POCKET KNIFE AND THE LIKE.

uruoumx FILED mm: 0, 190a.

Patented Mar. 30, 1909.

. u ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTOE.

CHARLES SCOTT EVENS, OF WALDEN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'lO THOMAS R. MOORE, OF WALDEN, NEW YORK.

POCKET-KNIFE AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 30, 1909.

Application filed June 6, 1908. Serial No. 437,067.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Soor'r Evens, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Walden, in the county of Orange and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Pocket-Knives and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in pocket knives and the like, and it consists in the novel features and structure hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Pocket knives commonly comprise a handle and a cutting blade or blades pivoted at one or both ends thereof and adapted to be turned or folded inwardly between the scales or sides of the handle, and in a great many instances the handles are also provided with other blades, adapted for various uses, pivotally secured the same as the cutting blades so as to be folded into the handle when not in use or when the tool as a whole is to be carried in a pocket.

The object of my invention is to provide simple and efiicient means for locking the pivoted blades in their open or operative position and to thereby prevent such blades from closing during their use.

The locking means provided by my invention comprise a spring latch of special character adapted to automatically lock the blade, when the latter reaches its open position, in rigid relation to the handle so that the blade cannot close by accident or careless handling during its use, and in carrying out my invention I groove the adjoining faces of the tang or shank of the blade and the inner side of the handle and secure a small bar (which constitutes the spring latch) in the groove of one of said members in position to at one part automatically enter the groove in the other member when the blade is opened, said clutch thus becoming operatively connected to both members when the blade is opened and being confined to the groove of one member when the blade is in closed position.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a pocket knife constructed in ac cordance with and embodying my invention, the blade being shown in its open position; Fig. 2 is a front edge view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same on the dotted line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. i is an elevation corresponding with Fig. 1 but showing the knife with one side of the handle omitted therefrom; Fig. 5 is a detached side elevation, partly broken away, of the blade; Fig. 6 is a detached face view of the spring latch; Fig. 7 is an edge view of the same, and Fig. 8 is an inner face view of the upper portion of the handle-side omitted from Fig. i and containing a groove for cooperation with the spring latch shown in Figs. 6 and 7 and the groove in the tang of the blade illustrated in Fig. 5.

In the drawings, 10 designates the handle, 11 the blade, 12 the pin by which the blade is pivotally secured between the sides of the handle, and 13 the back spring, all said designated features, with the exception of the changes therein caused by my invention, being of any usual or suitable form and construction. The blade 11 is as usual adapted to be closed into or between the sides of the handle 10. The blade 11 shown is illustrated as having a cutting edge, whereby said blade becomes known as a knife-blade, but the features of my invention are not confined to the fact that the blade has such cutting edge since they cooperate with the blade and handle regardless of whether the cutting edge is present or absent or whether the blade is used for cutting a stick of wood or for providing a hole in a strap or piece of belting or for applying or removing a screw or doing other work. I therefore use the term blade in this application in a generic sense, not meaning to confine the invention to the particular cutting-blade shown. For convenience and brevity of presentation, I illustrate only one blade 11 in the handle 10, since the features of my invention would simply be duplicated for each additional blade if the handle were shown as having a blade or two blades at each end.

In the preferred form of the invention, which is that illustrated, I provide a groove 14 in the face of the tang or shank of the blade 11, and within this groove secure, on the pin 12, the spring latch-bar 15, said groove being sutliciently coininodious to contain the full length and width of said bar and wholly house the same when the blade 11 is in its closed position. The bar 15 is preferably of spring metal and curved or set outwardly at its outer end, as at 16, so that said end will normally or when unrestrained project laterally from the groove 14:.

The inner face of the side 17 of the handle is formed in its end portion with a groove 18 which is of increasing depth or inclined toward its outer end, and this groove 18 is so positioned that when the blade 11 is turned to its open position, shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4:, the outer end 16 of the spring latch-bar 15 will automatically enter the same and by its engagement with the side walls of said groove 18 lock the blade in its open position and in rigid relation to the handle 10, this being the main purpose of my invention. lVhen the blade 11 is in its open position the latch-bar 15 is at its inner end engaged by the side walls of the groove 14L and at its outer end 16 by the side walls of the groove 18, and hence said bar at such time connects the blade and handle and pre vents the closing of the blade until the end 16 of the bar is positively pressed in alateral direction from the groove 18 into the groove 14.

- The groove 14k is of sufficient length to wholly house the latch-bar 15, and when the blade 11 is closed into the handle 10, the bar 15 is confined within said groove 14%, the inner face of the handle-side 17 serving to restrain the outer end 16 of said latch-bar and keep the same within said groove. When the blade 11 is opened the outer ends of the groove 1 1 and latch-bar 15 are carried outwardly beyond the inner face of the handleside 17, as shown in Fig. 3, and the outwardly set end 16 of said bar will automatically enter or snap into the groove 18 and lock the blade in rigid relation to the handle. When it is desired to close the blade 11, the user of the tool will press against the outer exposed face of the end 16 of the bar 15 and thereby force said end from the groove 18 and into the groove 14, thus releasing the bar fro-m the handle 10, and thereupon while said end 16 is held free of the side edge of the groove 18, said blade may be readily closed, the pressure of the thumb on the end 16 being released after the groove let has been carried from alinement with the groove 18, since thereafter the side 17 of the handle may be relied upon to force saidend of the latch bar into its groove 14:. The latch-bar 15 does not interfere with the opening of the blade 11, but automatically locks said blade against accidental closing movement after it has been turned to its open position.

My invention thus comprises a handle, a blade pivotally secured between the sides ofthe end thereof, said blade having in the side of its inner end a groove and the adjacent inner side of the handle also having a groove, and a spring latch bar fastened in one of said grooves and adapted at one end to snap into the other groove when the blade is opened, for locking said blade in its open position, said latch-bar being preferably of sufficient length to stand exposed at one end when the blade is locked open so that the user may by pressing with the end of the thumb or thumb-nail against said end move the said bar to its releasing position and thereupon close the blade.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. A pocket-tool comprising a handle, a blade pivotally secured between the sides of the end thereof, said blade in the side face of its inner end hving a groove and the adjacent inner side face of the handle also having a groove, and a spring latch bar fastened in one of said grooves and adapted at one end to enter the other groove when the blade is opened, said latch-bar then engaging the side edges of both grooves and locking the blade in its open position, and said latch-bar being of sufficient length to stand exposed at one end when the blade is locked open so that the user may move the same from its locking position; substantially as set forth.

2. A pocket-tool comprising a handle, a blade pivotally secured between the sides of the end thereof, said blade in the side face of its inner end having a groove and the adjacent inner side face of the handle also having a groove, and a spring latch-bar fastened in the groove of said blade and adapted at one end to enter the handlegroove when the blade is opened, said latchbar then engaging the side edges of both grooves and locking the blade in its open position and said blade-groove being adapted to house said latch-bar when the blade is folded to its closed position; substantially as set forth. 1

3. A pocket-tool comprising a handle, a blade pivotally secured between the sides of the end thereof, said blade in the side bar then engaging the side edges of both grooves and locking the blade in its open Signed at Walden, in the county of position and said blade-groove and latch- Orange and State of New York, this 27th bar being of such length that When the day of May A. D. 1908.

blade is opened an end of said bar will CHARLES SCOTT EVENS. 5 project beyond the handle-groove to afford Witnesses:

means for moving said bar to release the J. P. KIMBALL,

blade; substantially as set forth. THOS. R. MOORE. 

